Also saw Red-vented Bulbuls that are breeding in the neighborhood just south of me. They don't count though because they were once caged birds that have yet to establish a foothold here although apparently, they've been breeding in that spot for several years now.

As an aside, now Cabot's Tern Thalasseus acuflavidus, since the discovery that American "Sandwich Terns" are more closely related to Elegant Tern, than they are to Sandwich Terns in Europe. As BirdFiles doesn't have a pic of Cabot's Tern, can you add it there please? (maybe best after cropping out the other two!)

I can come up with a better pic for the tern when I get back this evening. Thanks for the heads up! Here's a pic with a Royal Tern, Cabot's Tern and Forster's Tern. Hopefully the other two haven't changed names?

Birders are so adventurous! Love that you're hopping boats to see cool birds Resin. Awesome bird -- love it with that cool mustard lichen or whatever it is.

Had a good weekend. I came in from doing yard work -- dripping with sweat and covered with fish poo -- when my friend called to say there's a Red-necked Phalarope and we're off to see it. Of course, I joined in! Bonus bird in the same flooded field was a Cinnamon Teal. Another friend wanted to see the Phalarope, so went again the next day. Phalarope was gone but I got Wood Storks and Black Terns!

Fish poo, Elphaba? Is that for fertilizer? We used some type of fish liquid when we planted our tomatoes a week ago and well coyotes came and dug up a few plants looking for fish. Trying non-chemical gardening is sure a learning experience. If it's not one thing, it's another. There's an electric fence up now, but we were needing that for our corn garden later in the summer--raccoons.

OK, back to the birds. I hope you get your Swallow-tailed Kite.

#130 Eurasian Tree Sparrow- That was about the easiest life bird we've ever had away from home. We were out of town at our favorite bakery when one lands right in front of our car onto a post.
#131 Chimney Swifts
#132 Gray Catbird
#133 Willow Flycatcher

Mrs. Ed, You got some of my favorites there. The top three are regular visitors in and near our yard. And today, a Dickcissel was sitting just a few feet from me when I was walking around. I've been hunting for an owl pellet. We don't know one is there, but we had a Great-horned keeping my husband and I up for too long one night. That pellet would be a nice addition to our collection. Some collection- we have one. :)

If I knew bird calls, I know I would have a bunch more on my list. There are tons of birds in the grass singing away and I have no idea what they are. I've seen sedge wrens there so I'm sure they are there. I also have a couple pictures of birds and the pictures are too bad for ID. bummer.

Mrs. Ed, We have all boys, if that explains anything. We could be collecting worse things...

Resin, The older two have dissected Barn Owl pellets we bought from an educational store, but the youngest found one pellet in the yard. It had a vole or mouse in it and never could figure out which owl did this. We learned hawks have more stomach juices, so could break down the bones better than owls. This pellet had complete bones, so it was an owl, but the pellet too small for a Great-horned.

I think your collection sounds awesome, but I always was a bit of a tomboy -- well, a tomboy who liked to wear dresses, carry a purse and smell flowers, but I always had grassmarks on my tights, leaves in my hair and some kind of squirming thing in my hand. The fish poo was from cleaning the fish filter. I only have one koi at the moment and I never feed it, but it poops like crazy!

Got the Swallowtail Kite breeding in Harris County which is amazing -- used to breed here long ago and seem to be coming back.
329 -- Swallowtail Kite

Also got an amazing bird -- only time it's been seen in Texas and I heard it hadn't been seen in US since 1994:
330 - Black-tailed Godwit!!!

Postponed trip south until next weekend. Did get 2 year birds on Sunday though:

331 - Barn Owl
332 - Long-billed Curlew - I'm told their arrival signals the beginning of fall migration. There was an interesting article in National Wildlife about bird migration. The author said that there is a bird in migration every month of the year and that some birds pass each other migrating in different directions.

Yep, that's what my friend said. He said that immature males would be the first ones we'd see, and we did see handful of them spread out in different locales around island. I'd been bugging him about getting a Long-billed Curlew, and he kept saying that I'd have to wait, so I was pretty pleased when I spotted the first one. We were trying to get a frigatebird though and missed that bird.

Also potentially # 210, but that'll have to be decided by the BOU (Britain's ornithological authority). A pair of Sacred Ibis. The question that the BOU will have to answer is are they (a) escapes from a zoo (in which case they don't count), or (b) wandering birds from the recently established feral population in France (in which case, they do count towards the yearlist). The theoretical option (c) that they are genuine wild vagrants from tropical Africa can be ignored safely ;-)

My money is on their being feral birds from the French population (there's over a thousand of them in western France, derived from birds that escaped from zoos there 30-40 years ago), but if I know the BOU, they'll decide they are escapes.

Similar debate going on here over the Tropical Mockingbird. Can't believe anyone would have it as a caged bird and certainly none of the handful of people that live near Sabine Pass would have one. Hope phalarope counts Resin.

Went to south Texas and added 15 countable year birds and one not countable -- the Aplomado Falcon -- loved seeing him even if he doesn't count!

LOL Margaret. I didn't get it at first. I thought something was wrong with your eyes and you were using font size 71. I've been doing brain games online but clearly I need to do a lot more. I'm sure your 71 birds are among the coolest ones any one has seen!

I'm doing better than I ever have, but the two men that I have been birding with both have at least a dozen more birds than I have. One of them went for the Masked Duck this weekend. He'll probably have 20 more birds than I have when he gets back.

Elphaba wrote:Similar debate going on here over the Tropical Mockingbird. Can't believe anyone would have it as a caged bird and certainly none of the handful of people that live near Sabine Pass would have one. Hope phalarope counts Resin.

Went to south Texas and added 15 countable year birds and one not countable -- the Aplomado Falcon -- loved seeing him even if he doesn't count!

Elphaba, Why doesn't the Aplomado Falcon count. And, does the Tropical Mocker count? I'm still too new to understand the "rules" about counting and not counting.

I haven't been out much, but I did increase my count a bit at Brazos Bend State Park.

142 Anhinga
143 Green Heron (fishing with insect lures - fun to watch)
144 Common Moorhen - adults and youngsters
145 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (I have to make sure I didn't already count these, but Excel doesn't think so. I can't imagine why. They are all over the place now.)

Images
1. The Anhinga - juvenile I think
2. An Anhinga with fish snack
3. A collage I put together on the Green Herons.
4. A young Common Moorhen in early morning light. I didn't correct the color and left the golden hues.
5. Same CM, but this time I color corrected the image to show his real colors.

Elphaba, Why doesn't the Aplomado Falcon count. And, does the Tropical Mocker count? I'm still too new to understand the "rules" about counting and not counting.

Patti

It's whether the birds are wild or not. Aplomado Falcon became extinct in the USA a number of years ago; it was re-introduced from Mexico, but the released birds haven't been doing too well, they have to keep releasing new ones. And you can't count the released birds, only their wild-bred offspring (if any).

With the Tropical Mocker, the question is whether it is a wild bird that made its own way north (which could be counted), or whether it jumped ut of a cage (in which case it can't be counted). Looking at its location, close to a major gulf coast port, my guess is it hopped onto a ship in a Caribbean port somewhere, stayed on board for the voyage, and then jumped ship on arrival in Texas. Which is a bit of a grey area for counting . . .

Patti, those pictures are GORGEOUS! Love the anhinga with the fish speared through its bill and that common gallinule with its reflection is just stunning. I'm counting the Mockingbird until I hear otherwise and maybe I'll still count it then! I did not count the falcon though.

Chily, congrats on that Sedge Wren. That's one of my favorites. I haven't found them to be easy to see. I've heard them a lot more than I've seen them, and I've never gotten a good pic of one. My camera broke on Friday, so it'll be a while.

"Corn Crake" -- and I thought the Aussie's had corned the market on fun bird names. Nice one.

Here's a lousy pic of that Aplomado Falcon. My friend has a fancy camera and has sold his bird pics and his picture of this bird on this day wasn't any better, so sometimes conditions just don't permit a good pic period. Still, I think you can imagine how beautiful he was.

Chillybean wrote:P_Edens, Beautiful pictures. I really like the Common Moorhen and its reflection.

Thanks, Chilly. He was a cutie.

MargaretK wrote:I love the fourth shot of the Moorhen, Patti. Looks like Narcissus admiring his reflection.

Margaret, thanks! I think I will have to title that photo, "Narcissus Hen on the Moor" or something like that.

Elphaba wrote:Patti, those pictures are GORGEOUS! Love the anhinga with the fish speared through its bill and that common gallinule with its reflection is just stunning. ...

Here's a lousy pic of that Aplomado Falcon. My friend has a fancy camera and has sold his bird pics and his picture of this bird on this day wasn't any better, so sometimes conditions just don't permit a good pic period. Still, I think you can imagine how beautiful he was.

Thanks, Elphaba! Oops. Did I get the ID wrong? I think he's a Common Moorhen and not a Purple Gallinule. Or are Moorhens also called gallinules? I don't have a clue. I think this is a snapshot of the family he sneaked away from for his solo voyage down the shoreline. Mom was not real happy. She was keeping the youngsters on short leashes - or at least trying to. There were Purple Gallinules out there too, so maybe he came from a different group?

And, I think your Falcon shot is better than what I have which is no Aplomado Falcon shot. So, that makes it a great shot in my book. ^_^

Patti, can't believe that I automatically called it a Common Gallinule b/c I refused at first to call it anything but a Moorhen for a long time. For some reason, the powers-that-be are constantly changing bird names. The Common Moorhen is now the Common Gallinule. Resin informed me that the Sandwich Tern is now the Cabot's Tern although no one else in the US seems to know this so I'm now labeling it the Sandwich/Cabot's Tern.

Love your family pic. Not sure why you needed to preview. I watched a pair of Purple Gallinules with babies and a pair of Common Gallinules with babies all in the same area at Sheldon Lake. None of them liked me looking at them and they did not let me takes baby pictures!

Yep, the powers-that-be have split Gallinula galeata (Americas) from Gallinula chloropus (Old World), so Moorhen is retained for the Old World species (which has always been called Moorhen), while the American species reverts to its old-time (pre-1980s) name of Common Gallinule. The reason for the split is that Tristan Moorhen (Gallinula nesiotis, an endemic on Tristan da Cunha) and Gough Moorhen (Gallinula comeri, endemic on Gough Island) proved to be more closely related to Gallinula chloropus than Gallinula galeata is. Complicated!!

Nice family pic, but can't tell if that is 'Mom', or 'Dad' - they can't be sexed easily! (and both parents help care for the young)

I thought we gained another life bird today, but alas, a juvenile Song Sparrow. Those birds gave me the fits last year, but I went this far into summer without one fooling me. It was time, I suppose. :P

Though not a lifer, I am hopping up and down excited that we saw some Bobolinks! We had not heard or seen any males in awhile, so thought nesting was done and they moved on. Well the Bobolinks are flocking now and a large group rested and fed in our pasture this morning.

No new ones here. My friend needed Swallow-tailed Kite, so desperate for birding entertainment, I went with him to find one. We searched the skies between the small towns of Dayton and Liberty near the Trinity River. We finally found 4 soaring together. In the 2 hours before we found them, we saw 23 Mississippi Kites! I was pretty amazed by that.

Good ones Chilly. I was excited to see a Wood Stork circling in the updraft with a Black Vulture. Not a year bird either but one I don't see too often. I'll share a couple of pics of it although they're not very clear. He was way up in the sky by the time he got closer to me.

Woohoo! Mourning Warbler - 353! Flew into my pond this morning while I was standing right in front of it! So cool! I just love warblers!

Chily, congrats on the lifers! Your list is fine. When I started playing on this forum, my life list didn't even have 100 birds. It's a journey not a race. Wish I could get a pic of that Mourning Warbler!

Resin, I love to read about your sightings. They are often birds I've never heard of and will likely never see. I'll have to go to either the west or east coast and get very lucky to see a Little Stint and forget about a Greenish Warbler. Good to see you saw a Stilt Sandpiper!

Chilly, I would love to see those Bobolinks! Never seen one.

Elphaba, Very cool to see the Wood Stork. I know they are around here at times, but I haven't spotted one yet. I sure hope that Mourning Warbler comes back for a photo session!

I hope to get out soon and spend some time admiring my feathered friends. Keep those reports and photos coming!

Patti, I was at the San Jacinto Monument on Sunday afternoon and counted at least 14 Wood Storks. Some I didn't count b/c I thought they might be dups, so there may have been more. They were flying over head, one was perched in a tree under an osprey eating a fish, and bunch were working the far bank of the big water area. Some flew right over the boardwalk. If you get a chance, you might want to check it out. I bet you'd get some stunner photos.

Got that Wood Stork, thanks to Elphaba! Didn't get a good photo, but at least got to see one. Almost gave up after a couple hours of seeing lots of birds but not Wood Storks. As I was getting in the truck, one flew right over the parking area.

Went three places and added six birds to my list and a bunch of lousy photos - tough photography with bright, white cloudy sky and harsh lighting.

Patti, I'm so glad you got your Wood Stork! I'm surprised that there was only one but thank goodness there was at least one. Your pics are exceptional especially considering the lighting -- love the gnatcatcher. Congrats on all the new year birds!

Thanks, Elphaba. There were probably more wood storks and I just didn't see them. I did see both black and turkey vultures, but no wood storks among them that I could see. I even photographed most of them to make sure I wasn't missing any. I was just happy that I did recognize the one that flew over the parking lot. Birds were flying from every direction, so I could have been concentrating on one while a jillion wood storks were flying behind me. LOL. I see the value in having more than one person on a birding trip.

Brown Boobies have been spotted at inland lakes in Texas for several weeks now. There was a red tide recently and I believe that happens when gulf temperatures are too high. Apparently, when water temps are too high, Booby food goes deep forcing the birds to find food elsewhere -- or at least that's the last theory I heard. If you live in Texas, look for this bird at any big body of water. There's one at Canyon Lake near San Antonio right now. This bird which was between the Baytown Nature Center and Lynchberg Ferry has not been seen since yesterday morning.

Big congrats! I went out to the BNC and Lynchberg Ferry area all day yesterday, but didn't see the BB. I got there just a short while after it was last sighted and stayed until sunset, but never did see the bird. I did see a lot of other birds though, so it was a worthwhile trip.

I don't want to count this unless I see it, but am excited to report I just heard a barred owl in the neighborhood. I hear it every once in a while the past few years (summers), but have never found it.

Very cool Mrs. Ed! Hope you see it. If there is water around where you are, check the wooded areas by the water. That's where I usually see them -- in the darkest trees in flooded forests or near lakes and wetlands. My friend and I saw one flying across a field the other day, so you never know.

356 -- Alder Flycatcher -- lifer! Thank goodness it called and my friend was there with his phone so we could compare Willow and Alder calls. Never would have gotten that bird on my own.

Mrs. Ed, Hope you can see that owl. Last year I saw one right near my pond in the late evening. I was just sitting quietly in a chair by the pond hoping to catch sight of the beavers that are decimating my trees. I heard the owl behind me, turned slowly and there it was - about 15 feet away. So cool to see. Of course, it saw (or heard) me move and skeedaddled.

A few to add to my list ...

158 - Forster's Tern (pending ID - I might have to scratch this one.)
159 - Broad-winged Hawk
160 - Cooper's Hawk
161 - Sharp-shinned Hawk
162 - Cattle Egret (I should have already had this one and the next one - They are all over the place around here. I just forgot to count them.)
163 - Blue Jay
164 - Sandwich Tern
165 - Black Tern (also pending ID - It might not be countable.)

I saw most of these at the Smith Point hawk watch tower. There was an expert birder, Tony Leukering, at the tower counting birds and he was kind enough to point out birds for me and tell me the identifying characteristics. I learned a lot. There were some that Tony pointed out that I just couldn't get on quickly enough to see and count. Many of the ones we saw were already on my list. In spite of the storms rolling through, it was a good day.

Very cool shot Patti. Nice additions too. I've never been to the Smith Point hawk watch. I've heard about it though. Saw over 100 Broad-winged Hawks fly over Sheldon Lake yesterday. Gave me the itch to see more! Also heard a Barred Owl and was just aching to see it. Didn't find it though.

Thanks, Elphaba. While I was at the tower, it was pretty slow - nothing like 100 hawks at one time. But, as you know, it is not unusual to see that and a whole lot more (thousands) on a good day. The raptors I expected, but I was surprised to see all of the other birds, orchard orioles, blue-gray gnatcatchers, blue jays, ww and mourning doves, hundreds of swallows, several large flights of roseate spoonbills, ibis, egrets, herons, magnificant frigatebirds, and the list goes on ... And that was a slow day.

I've been kind of busy and still have some Warblers to put on our year list (It's a family thing) I want to get our numbers updated. It should be around 160.

I just wanted to share a couple birds we saw that really thrilled us. A Roseate Spoonbill, a younger one, was seen at the Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines. Based on the timing, we figured the hurricane brought it in. What was super cool, was that we got to see it. It was first spotted Wed. the 5th of this month and since we knew we were going on the field trip to this area, we were so hoping it'd still be there. It was!! Too far for our camera, but it was clearly seen in the scope. When people tried finding it that afternoon and the next morning, it was gone.

Nice. If I had my binoculars several times in the yard, I think I know I could have added some more. Probably Nighthawks. I took a bunch of pictures today of warblers at the stream. I'm hoping some will be new.

358 - Red-breasted Nuthatch - had this bird for the year but not for the state. When I went to see this bird which is uncommon in this county, my friend had just seen an unusual flycatcher "that might be something good." We went back to the spot but didn't find it again until we were leaving. Turned out to be very rare for this area.
359 - Greater Pewee

There's a monkey on a stick involved? Awesome! I have a wannabe monkey on my lap. Kind of looks like one and definitely makes a mess like one.

Yep, had to go about an hour and half north to get the White-breasted Nuthatch at Huntsville State Park. While I was there a friend found a Red-naped Sapsucker at LaFitte's Cove by the coast. I'm going there this morning but it's probably long gone. There was a Black-throated Blue warbler there too, but the winds have shifted, so I think I missed out.

Not only was the sapsucker there but lots of warblers were still around and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, buntings and even a Wood Thrush. I got the best photos of a Merlin that I've taken and a Great Horned owl serenaded me as I left.

Bad news is that there was a female Black-throated Blue which would be a lifer for me. I was standing next to the guy who saw it. Another group of people further up were snapping away with their cameras, so I went to join them to make sure I wasn't missing the BTB. They were photographing a Catbird. When I came back, I was lamenting about not seeing the BTB when this guy said, "but it was just here! I thought that's what everyone was photographing." I can't believe I missed it by moving to another spot to make sure that I didn't miss it. I waited all day in the hope of seeing it again, but no luck.

I have not kept up with this. At all. Each of you have some great birds.

Mrs. Ed, We went on an owl prowl in the dead of winter and though we learned a bit about owls, we didn't see a one. I hope you have/had better success than we did. We were consoled by the fact we have neighborhood Great Horned Owls who make a bit of noise at night.

91- Common Loon (missed this one on Sunday when I got the grebes)
92- Double Crested Cormorant (Was surprised I didn't have this on the list from the spring, as I usually see them. Maybe it was an omission).

167. Pileated Woodpecker!!! This time it was seen only about an hour and a half from our home, instead of the last one being 3 1/2 hours. No pictures, though. And they laughed at us as they flew away. Tis ok, we got pictures of some other birds. And do Rhode Islands Red count? What were these chickens doing at the edge of the woods?

I assumed as much, Resin. :) These woods are surrounded by city. We suspected someone dumped them there. :( There were only two, a male and a female. I was tempted to take them home, but my husband doesn't like the idea of male crowing at all hours.

Three more today...
168. Sharp-shinned Hawk
169. Red-breasted Merganser (lifer)
170. Snow Bunting (lifer) I am pretty excited about this one. That is a beautiful bird and not quite as camera shy as those Pileateds.

Our life list is at 178 and I don't think we'll get to 200 by the end of the year, unless we were to bird in a different state or maybe a different part of Iowa. That can be a goal for next year. We realize that as we continue birding, it will become harder to see new birds, but actually we get pretty excited by what we see now. We saw our first Bald Eagle since August and that is always a thrill.

Just so you know Chilly, the Chicago area is seeing some irruptive birds. Evening Grosbeak, Bohemian Waxwing, Red Crossbills, White-winged Crossbills and Redpolls. So you may want to go scope out some favorite places of those types of birds. The crossbills seem to like hemlock seed cones. The Bohemians I think are mixed with Cedar Waxwing flocks.

Mrs. Ed, Some of those have made their way into Iowa already, from the bird postings I've seen. Ah, but that would be so cool if Evening Grosbeaks made their way down here. We saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings Friday, but now if we run into them again, we'll need to look closer. I enjoy birding in the woods, since it is so different from our habitat (grasslands). It drives me crazy we do not see any Chickadees here. I've had people tell me, if we have enough trees to support the various woodpeckers that come to the feeders, we surely would have some Chickadees. Well... nope!

Today is our first day for doing Project Feeder Watch and we expanded our feeding area, but this makes it so it can no longer be done by one person. It is too much of a workout trying to pop over to all the windows making sure we're not double counting birds.

Went to Florida and saw a Snail Kite and a Limpkin! Those bring my overall year list up to 381, but I've just been doing my Texas list here and I got a new one for the Texas list yesterday, a Broad-billed Hummingbird! That was a lifer and brought my Texas year list to 369. Also saw a gorgeous Calliope and I have two Rufous hummers in the yard. All of those used to be rare here even a year or two ago. Now, only the Broad-billed is considered rare.

Elphaba wrote:369 - Greater Scaup -- lucky find. Saw the green sheen on the head before the sun disappeared behind huge clouds for the rest of the day. Can't say that head shape is all that obvious to me.

Sorry, 'tis a Lesser Scaup: the sheen colour isn't very reliable (varies depending on light angle), but the head shape, body shape, back pattern and bill pattern all point to Lesser to me.

It was confirmed as Greater and several people whose opinions I respect went out today and saw them again. When they did, they found a Long-tailed Duck which I just got back from seeing. That was a lifer for me!

Elphaba wrote:It was confirmed as Greater and several people whose opinions I respect went out today and saw them again. When they did, they found a Long-tailed Duck which I just got back from seeing. That was a lifer for me!

Hmmm . . . 'fraid I'm still not convinced ;-) Did anyone get a good look at the wing pattern? Any more pics of it?

Thanks Resin. Only 4 more to go. I will likely get one this weekend when I go to my Mom's and pick up a tufted titmouse. I also heard there was a new gull at the river here. I'll have to check that out tomorrow.

It is unlikely we'll see any new ones before the end of the year. Tomorrow is our Christmas Bird count, but it is supposed to rain. At least from experience at our feeders, the birds are usually pretty scarce when it is wet, but they have to be somewhere...

Oh my... tell me about it. LOL We recognize the moment there is an oddball at our feeders, but get us in the field... And then I am thrown off so often when we see what is usually a feeder bird far away from any feeders. "What??? That's a Goldfinch?!"

90. I forgot about the Long-billed Corella until one visited this morning. No way will I make it to a hundred by the end of the year. This is a shot of one from a couple of years ago. I didn't mean to post it twice, but once I'd uploaded it I couldn't get rid of it.

Saturday is my bird count. In other news, last winter my husband and I were sure we each saw a golden eagle, but no photos. My local bird watching friend saw one this morning at the river, so I have to go look tomorrow. I would LOVE for it to be 100.

Thanks Bern, Margaret and Patti. Of course it is sunny today, so perhaps my pix would have turned out better. But still, I learned a lot. Mainly, I need better binoculars. And here I thought mine were fairly decent!

My last ditch attempt to add Glaucous Gull failed, it didn't show, and it's dark now. So I'm stuck on 226, no change since 8 November. I'll tot up the totals later tonight (in case anyone west of here does get a late last bird!).

We went to bed the 31st, eager to wake up and start our 2013. It has been an amazing (for us) year so far and only 3 days into it. This morning, three Common Redpolls came to our feeding area!! Now if only that Snowy Owl would be so kind as to be a yard bird. :D

That would be amazing, but since we are out in the country and one was spotted 6 miles from here in November, I am hoping... A couple days after that sighting, we were often scanning the perimeter of our acreage and the fields around us.

We will count what we hear so long as it's positively identifiable, but so far we've been able to see the bird eventually. Like the Great Horned Owl, we've only heard them around our place, but did see one nesting elsewhere. And that silly Bobwhite we had last summer. We heard him for about two weeks before he actually perched on a post.

Thanks y'all! Actually ended with Texas count of 375 and US count of 389. Got Common Redpoll in South Dakota. There were tons of them! There were a lot of great birds in Texas right at the end of the year too, but I was out of town for most.